Welcome to Future Transport Tasmania

We are here to lobby for better public transport and rail infrastructure in Tasmania. We aim to find solutions to allow all Tasmanians to have environmentally responsible and affordable commuting options to get around our state and towns. A more detailed mission statement can be found in the left column or <here>.

Find our articles below, starting with the most recent ones first:

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Media Release

Highway
Proposal Locks In Car Dependence

Northern
Suburbs Railway cheaper than Brooker Upgrade

Community-based public transport
advocacy group, Future Transport Tasmania (FTT), today slammed the Tasmanian
Government and the Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources (DIER)
for seeking approval to fund over $213 million dollars of improvements to the
Brooker Highway. The plan is designed
solely to ease congestion, however there has been no design work, nor has there
been any net-cost benefit analysis. FTT wishes
to highlight the fact that several State Government strategies all have a goal
of increasing public transport use, including the Tasmanian Urban Passenger
Transport Framework, the draft Hobart Capital City Plan and the Southern
Integrated Transport Strategy. The
Southern Integrated Transport Strategy even admits that Hobart cannot
accommodate unrestrained growth in private car use. FTT believes that DIER and the State
Government have decided that they do not want the Northern Suburbs Railway to
be used as a commuter rail service, despite the fact that it’s introduction would
cost less than half that of the proposed highway upgrades.

FTT is appalled at the complete
contradiction inherent in Government strategies and their actual plans to build
more and more highways.

Future Transport Tasmania
spokesperson Toby Rowallan said: “In preparing our submission to the
Legislative Council’s enquiry into Integrated Public Transport Options for
Southern Tasmania, FTT found that the Government and DIER are talking about
public transport –but doing everything they can to prevent it. For less than one hundred million dollars we
could have the Northern Suburbs Railway up and running. They wouldn’t need to spend money on the
highway at all, because we would have a decent public transport link in place
instead.”

“If the State Government truly
wanted to encourage a greater use of public transport services, the last thing
they would do is to upgrade a highway.
Tasmania cannot afford to lock in more car dependency. By failing to fund public transport, in
particular the Northern Suburbs Railway, we will guarantee increased carbon
emissions, increased oil price vulnerability and increased disadvantage for
those people who cannot access private vehicle transport.”

“The cost of improving parts of the
Brooker Highway to cope with increasing demand is over twice as much as the
cost of introducing a commuter rail service.
This was outlined in the State Government’s preliminary submission to
Infrastructure Australia that was released late last year. All this will achieve is encourage greater
car use, more congestion in other areas of the road network and more cars in
the CBD.”

“In hearings with the Legislative
Council in June, Secretary Norm McIlfatrick stated that Hobart did not have a
congestion problem by comparison with mainland cities. Whilst we may have a higher level of
congestion than we should, this does not justify spending over $200 million
dollars just to cut five minutes of travel time,” finished Mr Rowallan.

FTT’s submission to
the Legislative Council enquiry is available on request.

3 comments:

Just visited the Transport Museum at Glenorchy and took a ride on the old Tas Limited Train FANTASTIC!Can't believe passenger Trains don't run any more in Hobart/Tasmania.I strongly agree with the comment above.

To lobby for and promote rail transport as a preferred option for bulk and intermodal freight

To lobby for and promote improvement and expansion of Tasmania’s rail infrastructure and network

-The retention of the Bridgewater to Hobart line- The reopening of various other lines eg. Derwent Valley, Wiltshire, Smithton and Scottsdale

To lobby for transport solutions to be integrated into urban and regional planning

PRIMARY RATIONALE

Climate change demands action, increased public transport services are inherent to this response

Increasing oil costs, together with the reality of Peak Oil will ensure that significant improvements to public transport services, with a much wider range of options, is necessary in the near future

Economic efficiency –assisting business and providing jobs

Equity and accessibility

Improved air quality and matching Tasmania’s Clean and Green brand

Addressing unsustainable traffic congestion

Removing discrimination –improving access to public transport for the disabled, elderly people and parents

More closely knit and cohesive communities;-eg. Neighbours who catch the same bus are much more likely to talk to one another in comparison to those who drive themselves to work

The notion that public transport systems or indeed a publicly owned rail system have to pay their own way is potentially counterproductive to the aim of such a system-Were Hobart’s old tram and suburban rail systems closed due to lack of patronage, or running costs?

Current demand is not relative to future use, simply because of the lack of current transport alternatives

Rail transport is potentially far more efficient than road, and has multiple benefits alongside decreasing carbon emissions, including;-significantly decreased road maintenance costs-potentially decreased road toll and associated costs relating to heavy vehicle crashes-Tasmania’s rail network was constructed in the 19th century and has to compete with a 20th century highway

MORE ABOUT US

Until now there has been no community-based group advocating public and rail transport. We are here to fill this gap and provide a voice for these issues in the public arena.

We mean business and will work as vigorously as any corporate lobby group does, except that unlike some we want to hear public opinion.

Membership of FTT is open to any person who wishes to be a part of it.

We are not affiliated with any political party. We welcome discussion of our agenda and ideas with anyone, and we hope to have discussions with all three major political parties in Tasmania about these issues.

Tasmania is currently re-defining itself. As part of this process of change and growth, in a vision of sustainability and progress, transport infrastructure is a vital part of nation (and state) building. Future Transport Tasmania aims to bring this vision of the future into today’s public debate.

For further information and comment:Toby Rowallan (Secretary) 0418 997 069Email: